When browsing through a list of SSL products, the vast number of certificates may confuse you, especially if various SSL types fall under the same brand.

An eloquent example of users’ struggles to distinguish one certificate from another is Positive SSL Wildcard and Essential SSL Wildcard certificates.

Positive SSL

The similarities between them have left many people wondering, what’s the catch? But, surprisingly, there isn’t any. The only aspect that differentiates the two is the branded name. Positive SSL Wildcard is part of Sectigo’s “Positive” product range that boasts the cheapest products on the SSL market. Here’s the entire list:

Essential SSL

On the other hand, Sectigo’s “Essential” range consists only of two products:

As you can see, Sectigo’s branding policy dictates the difference in price between the Positive SSL Wildcard and Essential SSL Wildcard certificates. And while Positive SSL Wildcard is cheaper, more SSL Dragon customers prefer Essential Wildcard when it comes to securing their website.

For those readers who are complete newcomers to the SSL industry and don’t know what a WildCard certificate does, let’s recap its main functions.

Wildcard SSL

The Wildcard SSL Certificate secures your main domain and all its first-level subdomains. Alternatively, it can secure one subdomain and all its second-level subdomains. However, you can’t install the same Wildcard SSL Certificate on both first-level and second-level subdomains. To achieve this, you will need a Multi-Domain Wildcard SSL Certificate or two separate Wildcard SSL Certificates. The easiest way to understand how the Wildcard SSL Certificate works is to look at the following example:

Positive SSL Wildcard and Essential SSL Wildcard secure one main domain name (yoursite.com) and all its first-level sub-domains (*.yoursite.com):

  • blog.yoursite.com
  • news.yoursite.com
  • shop.yoursite.com

Positive SSL Wildcard and Essential SSL Wildcard secure one sub-domain name (blog.yoursite.com) and all the second-level subdomains (*.blog.yoursite.com):

  • food.blog.yoursite.com
  • drinks.blog.yoursite.com
  • diet.blog.yoursite.com

The Wildcard SSL is not only flexible but also cost-effective and efficient. It saves you both configuration time and money. But there’s more, you can install it on Domain Validated (DV) and Business Validated (BV) websites. All Domain Validated certificates are issued to individuals and companies within a few minutes after the SSL Certificate purchase.

The Business Validated certificates are great news for companies that spread their online presence across multiple subdomains. To obtain a BV Wildcard SSL you have to provide information about your company (name, address, and phone number) to the Certificate Authority. If the CA is able to verify your company’s registration information, it will issue the SSL Certificate in 1 to 3 days. Moreover, you don’t have to notify the CA and re-issue your Wildcard SSL Certificate every time you add a subdomain to your server. The Wildcard Certificate automatically secures all your new subdomains.

No Extended Validation

Many newcomers to the SSL industry wonder why there isn’t an Extended Validation (EV) Wildcard Certificate, as it would be such a great product. Unfortunately, due to security reasons, the Certificate Authorities refuse to issue EV WildCard certificates. The EV SSL provides the highest level of trust, and the CAs want to have complete control over the subdomains that they issue an EV SSL to. As a result, your only solution is to buy a Multi-Domain EV SSL that secures multiple domains and subdomains. But even so, Wildcard SSL Certificates remain an extremely efficient and popular SSL option.